The Central Government, during the discussion on Tuesday (February 3, 2026), on the fifth day of the budget session, has shared information with the Parliament about the action taken by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and deciding the punishment in the cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The government told Parliament that the conviction rate in ED cases registered under PMLA is 94.82 percent.
With this, till now the courts have given their verdict in a total of 58 cases. Out of which 123 accused have been convicted in 55 cases. At the same time, in the last five years, 104 accused have been convicted in 43 out of 55 cases.
Conviction orders passed in 55 out of 58 cases
In response to a question raised by Samajwadi Party MP Ramji Lal Suman in the Rajya Sabha during the budget session of Parliament, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said, ‘Till December 31, 2025, the special courts of PMLA have given verdicts on the basis of merits in 58 cases on the issue of money laundering. Of these, conviction orders were passed in 55 cases, in which 123 accused were found guilty. In this way, 94.82 percent punishment has been found in these cases.
How many cases have been registered since the implementation of PMLA?
He said, ‘ED has ensured conviction in a total of 43 cases since 2020-21, in which 104 accused have been punished under PMLA. The ED has registered a total of 8,391 cases since the implementation of PMLA in 2002. Of these, chargesheet has been filed in 1,960 cases and investigation has been closed in 1,278 cases.
What did the Union Minister say about the delay in investigation in ED?
At the same time, in response to a question asked about the delay in ED’s investigation, the Union Minister of State said that the agency registers cases by adopting a multi-pronged strategy based on the risks and threats of money laundering and thoroughly investigates the information received from various sources.
He said, ‘After the investigation in money laundering cases is completed, the prosecution complaint is filed in the Special Court. Emphasis has been laid on extensive use of technology to speed up investigation and ensure timely disposal of cases. This includes the use of national and international databases, forensic tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI), OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) technology and digital resources to strengthen the evidence in these extremely important cases, enhance its analytical capacity and rapidly complete the investigation of complex financial crimes.
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